A Winchester Christmas Story
by vintage memoirs
Summary: Christmas is coming... and Dean's got a cold.


_**A/N:** A Supernatural Christmas story I wrote a couple of years ago as an assignment for a creative writing class. It's set around the end of season one to the beginning of season 2. I thought I'd post it here, since it's getting close to Christmas time again and I thought some people may enjoy reading it._

_**Disclaimer:** Don't own the boys. Blah, blah, blah..._

* * *

{scene one – the motel room}

Sam groans when he opens his eyes to the too bright motel room. He glances at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand between the beds. 1:48 PM.

_Why didn't Dean wake me up… better question, why is Dean still in bed?_

Sam makes his way to the bed opposite his, "Dean?"

"Not now, Sammy," the older man mumbles in response.

"It's almost two."

Dean groans, "Already?"

"Yes already. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…Yeah, I'm fine." Dean sits up, pausing before climbing out of his bed.

"Dean, you don't look too good."

"Sammy, stop it. I'm fine."

"Alright, got it."

Dean nods his head and walks into the bathroom.

"Well, something's wrong with him."

{scene two – the diner}

Dean slouches down in his chair, sliding the plate of food in front of him towards the center of the table. "That's all you're eating?"

"Yes. Got a problem with it?"

"No, it's just you usually eat about three times that much."

"I'm just not hungry now."

Sam shakes his head and twirls his fork in his hand.

The waitress comes over to the table and gives Dean a more-than-friendly smile. "Can I get you boys anything else?"

Sam sees Dean force a small smile when he looks at the attractive girl. "Just the check."

There is something _really_ wrong with him.

Dean tugs his jacket closer to him, shivering slightly. "Hey, Dean, why don't you go wait in the car, with the heat on."

"If you're willing to pay for this I ain't gonna argue."

Sam watches Dean walk out of the diner, folding his arms against the cold winter air. The waitress saunters back over to the table, taking Sam's concentration from his brother in the parking lot. As he slides out of the booth he makes a mental note they need more cash - especially if they plan on having anything Christmas-y at the motel room this year. New credit cards to use anyway, the current ones are from the last town. He shoves the change from the twenty dollar bill he gave the cashier deep into his pocket as he hits the freezing cold air and snow outside of the door.

"You're so stubborn, Dean!" Sam half yells across the parking lot while pulling his hood up.

Shooting Sam his trademark smirk without looking up from his task - carefully brushing every bit of collected snow off of his beloved baby, you'd never think it was a car how he talks about it - he shoots back, "I don't trust you with her. You'll scratch her."

Sam rolls his eyes, "Would you just get a room with it already?" He can't help but smile at Dean's attitude towards the Impala.

Dean's smirk turns into a full fledged grin as he finishes cleaning off the car and quickly gets in, cranking the heat on higher than it already was. Sam gets in on the passenger's side and gets his breath taken away from the sudden temperature change. Glancing over at Dean, who's putting the car in drive, he notices his teeth chattering.

Sam feels sweat beading on his forehead under his bangs and shrugs his jacket off.

Dean looks at Sam when he hears the fabric rustling, "You're not cold?"

Sam shakes his head, "No, I'm not."

"Oh, sorry," Dean says reaching for the heater knob by the radio but is stopped by Sam.

"It's fine if you're still cold."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Sam replies, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows and leaning back against the leather seat.

Dean watches Sam before looking straight ahead and putting both hands on the wheel.

{scene three – the forest}

"You're sure this is the last one of these things?" Sam asks just loud enough for his older brother to hear.

"Yeah, positive," comes the reply through a sniffle from behind him somewhere. The pair look around the barren trees and snow covered ground spreading out in all directions from them.

Suddenly, something kicks up snow to Sam's right, then it's on the opposite side of them.

"Thing moves fast," Dean mumbles to himself while swiftly moving so he's back to back with his brother. The two raise their guns and search for any other signs of movement in the darkening forest.

The demonic looking creature moves between trees in front of Dean. He quickly pulls down on the trigger, sending the bullet through the monster.

But Dean isn't strong enough to take the kickback like usual. He falls back hard into Sam, sending him sprawling on his hands and knees in the ice and snow. Dean tries to turn to catch himself but stumbles over Sam and falls hard on his back, taking his breath away.

"Deep breaths, don't force it," Sam says after a moment, grabbing his gun from the snow in front of him and making his way over to his brother.

Dean feels Sam's hand on his head and reaches up to hit it away, but lets his arm drop back into the snow when a blinding pain shoots through his back. Dean groans, breathing hard again.

"Dean, you're hot," Sam states with the back of his hand to his brother's forehead.

"I'm…fine."

"You're sick. Well, that explains a lot."

"I'm not sick, I don't get sick."

"Anyone's going to get sick if they're out falling in the snow with no jacket on – remember that? You were freezing that night."

Dean sighs and looks away from Sam, "Just get me to the car then take care of the thing."

Sam helps Dean stand up slowly, noticing the tree root where the middle of his brother's back was a moment ago. Dean groans in pain from trying to stand by himself and leans against Sam. He puts his coat sleeve to his nose and sniffles again. "Man, I hate being sick."

{scene four – the motel room, next day}

"Sammy, I'm not staying in bed."

"Yes, you are. You need rest."

"I'm rested enough."

"Dean, you've got the flu, you need to stay in bed. And if that's not enough of a reason for you, how about your back?"

"My back's fine," Dean pushes the covers off of him and stands up, gritting his teeth through the pain. He takes in a deep breath and stands up in his fighting stance. "See?"

"Walk."

"I'm standing, isn't that enough?"

"No."

Dean sniffles and lies back down on the bed, pulling the covers over himself again. "Happy?"

"Yes, in fact I am."

"You're happy your brother's hurt and sick?"

"No. I'm happy we get to stay somewhere for Christmas."

Dean gives Sam a confused look.

"It's December 22, Dean."

"Already? Man, I didn't even get you a present."

Sam's not sure whether Dean's being sarcastic or serious, the nasal sound of his voice masking it.

"I don't need one."

Dean rolls his eyes. "You going to buy stuff to decorate around here?"

"I was thinking about it," Sam says a little sheepishly.

Dean reaches over to the nightstand and grabs his wallet. He tosses a credit card to the end of his bed, "Nothing big, alright?"

"Yeah, fine." Sam pockets the card and puts his jacket on. "I'll be back in an hour, and I'd better not find out you were out of that bed."

Dean smirks, "Yes, mommy."

"Shut up," Sam fires back just before shutting the door behind him.

"Bring me back something to eat!"

Dean looks around the room after he hears his baby's loud motor disappear down the road. Comfier than most, it looks more like a three room log cabin than a cheap motel in Illinois. Nothing to do though.

Dean picks up the remote and flips through the channels on the TV at the foot of his bed.

The Grinch? No.

Cheaper by the Dozen?

Dean tilts his head when the channel comes on. This guy looks way too much like Sammy. He smirks at the kid's line to the farm boy. Okay, this is a keeper.

{scene five – a couple hours later}

Sam walks back into the room, struggling with the keys, two cups of soda, a bag of food and an arm full of boxes and a plastic bag. Sam walks over to the bed and drops the bag of food and keys on Dean's stomach which wakes him up.

Dean jumps as much as he can and gives Sam a look. Before Dean can shoot a remark at him, Sam looks at the TV and smirks. "Dude, are you watching a Hilary Duff movie?" Dean looks at the screen to see the blonde girl dancing with Chad Michael what's-his-name.

"Shut up, I fell asleep. Damn medicine works too well."

Sam chuckles to himself and puts the cups of soda on the nightstand then walks to the other side of the room to put the boxes down, "Hey man, I don't have a problem with it, I just didn't think you were into the blonde all-American teenager type."

Dean looks up from the Taco Bell bag on his lap and thinks about beaming the tub of nacho cheese at Sam's head. He decides against it when he plays it out in his mind. Cheese running through Sam's hair, in his eyes - but then there's the wall and the carpet covered in it too… Next chance he gets though, Sam's getting it.

"What ya' got there?" Dean asks like the last couple minutes never happened.

"Just some stuff."

Dean rolls his eyes and takes a large bite out of his taco. "You're such a dork, Sammy."

Sam chuckles and shakes his head, "You're the one who raised me, man."

Dean smirks. His new entertainment for the next few hours? Annoying Sam.

{scene five – that night}

Dean looks at the silver and gold lighted tree in the corner of the room, "I have to admit it's not all that bad."

Sam smiles, knowing that means Dean likes it. He sits on the side of Dean's bed that's empty and glances at the TV. "What are you watching?"

"Dead Like Me through my eyelids."

"You're tired again?"

Dean nods his head, "That medicine makes me tired."

"It makes you feel better too though."

"It doesn't matter if I'm asleep."

He's got a point. Oh well, it'll give him time to wrap his present.

Sam watches the remote in Dean's hand turn over and over, slowing slightly each time until it stops when he's completely asleep. He stands up and walks out to the car, opening the trunk and taking out another box and a shopping bag. "Dean's going to love this."

Sam wraps the present in the room just as he remembers watching Jessica do it two years ago. When he's done he puts the boxes under the tree in the back, so Dean won't see them and sits back on his bed.

He smiles, remembering how every Christmas when they were kids Dean would wake him up and make him sneak downstairs with him. They would find which set of presents were their own and open them just enough to see what it was, because they just couldn't wait. When Sam was 13 though, the tradition stopped. Sometimes Sam missed the old days when they were kids. Besides the whole hunting thing, it really wasn't that bad.

Sam's sure he's not going to get anything from Dean this year, but that's alright. At least he's with family again. Sam nudges the remote out of Dean's hand and changes the channel.

{scene six – next morning}

"Sammy, there's presents under the tree."

Sam laughs, "Well, thank you for pointing that out Captain Obvious."

Dean lowers his eyebrows for a moment. "What are they?"

"You'll have to just wait and see."

"But I don't want to," Dean pouts.

Sam just looks at Dean. "You're seven. You've got to be."

Dean's pout turns into a smirk. He takes a coffee from the nightstand and takes a sip. One of the best coffee's he's had in the last month.

"I'm going to get a shower before I go out to get us something to eat, alright?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

Sam walks into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. A few minutes later Dean hears the shower turn on, and he fights himself to just get up and sneak a peek at his presents. He loses the battle with his curiosity.

Dean stands up slowly and carefully makes his way to the Christmas tree on the other side of the room. He sits cross-legged and sorts through the boxes, deciding which one to open first. He picks up the medium sized one and starts gently pulling at the tape. Dean Doesn't hear the shower turn off as he fumbles with the double wrapped present.

Sam opens the bathroom door quietly to check on Dean. He sees him sitting on the floor, fumbling with a present. "Dean, what do you think you're doing?" Sam says loudly.

Dean drops the present, happy to not hear a shatter and looks at his younger brother. "I was just, uh… sitting here by the tree."

"Yeah right, you were trying to see what I got you."

Dean looks at Sam with puppy eyes - nowhere near as effective as the other's. The paleness of his skin does make him seem a little more pitiful however.

"Well, when I go out I'm going to have to take those with me, aren't I?"

"No." Dean pushes himself up with difficulty. "You don't, I won't try and see what they are again."

"Oh, you won't?"

"No. I'll get a shower when you're out, so I won't have a chance to."

"That will work. Just, get back in bed now."

"Don't tell me what to do," Dean says angrily, snatching the new box of tissues from the table and crawling back into bed. "My back feels better now, I'm just sick. It's not like I'm dying."

Sam rolls his eyes and walks back into the bathroom to shave.

{scene seven - that night}

Dean finds himself again fighting with himself not to open the presents. He bites his lip and looks at the clock to his left. 11:43 PM. Only seventeen minutes until Christmas Eve and he still didn't have a present for Sam - though he knew what Sam had been wanting. He quietly gets out of bed, careful not to wake up the man in the next bed from him. He stretches his back before he pulls on a pair of clean jeans from the duffle bag next to his bed.

He puts his wallet into his pocket and puts on his coat before grabbing the keys to the Impala and sneaking out into the cold winter night.

On the drive to the 24 Wal-Mart Dean goes over the shopping list in his head. One box of cold medicine, two boxes of tissues, and one of those laptops where the screens flip around and you can write on them. Sammy's been complaining about how theirs has been freezing for the last few months, so he might as well get him a new one. One of those little music players too, so he won't complain about the music in the car.

Dean pulls up in the first parking spot he finds by the door and walks inside, taking a shopping cart from the long line so he can lean on it to walk easier. He first goes to the isle the medicine is in and tosses a small box into the cart, followed by the two boxes of tissues. He pushes the cart back to the electronics department.

Stopping the cart to look at the items in the case, he notices a girl restocking the shelves in the back. He smiles slightly and raises his voice, "Can I get some help over here?" Might as well get her to be nice to him if he's going to be spending this much.

She only nods her head and walks to where the man is, "What do you need?"

"Well, that laptop," Dean says pointing at the most expensive one in the case, "and one of those little ipod things, and whatever you need to buy music for them."

The girl smiles at Dean as she unlocks the case and pulls out an ipod box and music card. She places those in the cart. "You're not an electronic man I'm guessing?"

"Oh, no, not me. I can work the stuff, but I'll take cassette tapes any day."

"Oh, classic rocker, huh?"

Dean smiles, "Guilty."

"I think that's cool. So, who are these for then, your girlfriend?"

Dean watches the girl unlock another case, "No, actually it's for my brother."

The girl, Faith, Dean notes from her nametag, smiles, obviously happy. "Well, that's sweet." She places the larger box in the cart, this time noticing the medicine and tissues. She looks back up at the man, "If this is it I can ring you up here."

"That'll be good," he says in reply.

Dean leans against the cart again and walks to the register Faith goes behind. He leans over the handle and puts the contents of the cart on the counter. While she's ringing the things up he fishes his wallet out of his pocket and pulls out a credit card. He hands it to her and sees her raise an eyebrow at him.

"It's my dad's," he says with an overconfident smile.

She laughs quietly and scans the card before handing it back to Dean along with a piece of paper, which he signs with the pen off the counter. He slides the paper back towards Faith, with his myspace address at the very bottom. Who'd have known something like that would have come in handy now. No thanks to Sam for never telling him about it.

"Have a nice day, Mr. Cruise," she says with a smile. Dean just nods and walks out of the store. Even when he's sick he can get a girl. Oh yeah, he was good.

He loads the bags into the backseat of the car and drives straight back to the motel, playing his favorite ac/dc song loudly. He missed the sound of the Impala's speakers.

Sam wakes up to the pounding of Back in Black and groans. He expects Dean to have it on the laptop, but when he looks at the other bed in the room he's sees his brother's not there. "Dean…ugh," He says angrily, getting out of bed. Dean comes back into the room, having a little difficulty carrying the bags and sees Sam out of bed, looking _very_ angry at him.

"Oh, Sammy, you're up."

"Yes I'm up. Where were you?"

"I went to the store," Dean says motioning towards the bags behind him. Dean takes off his jacket and drapes it over the back of one of the chairs at the table. He tosses his wallet and keys onto the table.

"Why?"

"I had to get you a present. Now will you go back to sleep so I can wrap it or whatever?"

"You should have at least told me you were going out," Sam says sitting back down on his bed.

"I was out of medicine and I didn't want you to go out and leave me alone here in the middle of the night."

Sam gives Dean a look. He doesn't want to stay here alone, but it's okay to leave Sam alone.

Dean sees the look and drags the bags over to his bed, where Sam can't see them. "Just go back to sleep. I'll be fine."

Sam sighs and lies back on his bed, his back to his brother. "Don't stay up too late Dean."

"Got it, Mom."

Sam smirks and tosses an extra pillow at Dean's head – all he can hit from where he's sitting now on the floor.

{scene nine – Christmas Eve night}

Sam wanted to just tear open the new additions to the small stack of presents under the tree, but whenever he got that look in his eyes, Dean shot him a "don't you dare" look. That was look enough to make a pit bull stop in its tracks, let alone Sam.

That was sweet of Dean though, going out when he's sick to get him a present. Sam's sure his back is better by now, but he shouldn't be going out in the middle of the night to just come back in practically dragging something he bought for Sam.

"Do we really have to wait until morning to open them," Sam asks in a slightly whiny voice.

"Yes."

"Come on, you don't want to wait either."

"Dad never let us open presents until Christmas morning, and we're sticking to that."

There's no talking to Dean once he's got his mind set on something. Especially if that something has to do with their Dad. Sam turns his head back to the television between the beds, trying to determine if he'd like the movie or not. After a few moments he decides not. "Well, I'm going to sleep then."

"Night, Sammy."

"Night, Dean."

{scene ten – Christmas morning}

Dean wakes up to the smell of coffee and…cookies? That's different. He hears music playing, from the radio in the corner no doubt. He opens his eyes and looks around. The tree's lit up, there are two cups of coffee and a tray of cookies on the nightstand and the radio's got Christmas music playing. He smiles slightly and sits up in his bed, taking a cup of coffee and a couple cookies. It feels like old times again.

Sam walks back in the house from the car, "Hey, you're up."

Dean nods his head, his mouth full. "Are we doing the present thing now?"

"Sure."

Sam picks up the larger stack and puts it on the bed in front of Dean. It takes less than a second before he tears open the wrapping on the smaller boxes. Sam smiles and picks up the other stack, surprised at the heaviness of it. "Dean, what did you buy?"

"Open it," Dean says, not even paying attention. He pulls his presents towards him, making room for Sam at the end of his bed. Sam puts the boxes down and sits on the edge.

Dean looks up at Sam when he only has the large box to open. "Gun accessories?"

"You were saying you needed new stuff."

"Yeah…" Dean sounds skeptical that Sam got him something good. Sam starts opening the smaller box on his stack.

"An iPod?"

"Yeah, it might come in handy for you." Dean says as he moves the larger box onto his lap. Sam smiles and puts the box to the side.

The two open the last boxes at the same time, both sighing happily. Sam runs his hand over the box of the laptop before he gives in and opens it. Dean quickly opens the black metal case to see the shiny metal and polished wood gun. He runs his hand down the metal of the barrel and then over the wood stock, grooves for the fingers, metal engraved with Latin phrases, then over the new carving in the wood. Dean.

"Sammy… you didn't have to."

"Just say thank you."

Dean smiles and takes the gun out of the case, "Thanks."

Dean puts the gun together and holds it up. "It's perfect." Sam smiles when he sees his older brother attaching the scope and checking out the buck shots already filled with rock salt. Sam opens the iPod box while the laptop's starting up and plugs it in.

"Hey, man, whatever happened to not spending a lot?"

"I think that idea went down the drain when you said it was almost Christmas."

The two laugh and go back to playing with their new toys.

{scene eleven – the day after Christmas}

"That was the best Christmas we've had in a long time."

"Yeah, definitely," Dean says, putting his new gun in the backseat – it's not going with the others. Sam puts his new laptop and iPod in the front seat before he heads back into the motel room to shut off the lights and make sure they have everything. Dean walks to the passenger's side of the car, so he'll have a shield from Sam in the now practically empty parking lot and field.

He makes a quick snowball and squats down behind the front fender to wait for Sam. That new medicine he picked up is exactly what he needed. Feels like nothing's wrong now, no back pain, no sniffles and best of all he's wide awake.

Sam walks out of the motel and turns to lock it the door, not suspecting anything. Dean bites his lip and beams the snowball at Sam's back, hitting just between his shoulders and making him jump. He yells almost like a girl, making Dean laugh hysterically.

"Oh, you want to play, huh?" Sam says acting like he's angry. He makes a large snowball and throws it at his older brother, missing and hitting the hood of the Impala, making a loud thud. His jaw drops.

"Dude! You hit my car!"

"I'm sure it didn't do anything, it's just snow."

"Yeah, but you're going to get it." Dean smirks almost evilly, making Sam turn and run for cover. The two keep up their snowball fight for an hour, until Sam comes out surrendering – just like when they were younger.

They get in the car after getting most of the snow off of their jackets and drive off east, to the next hunt, loud rock blasting through the old car's speakers.


End file.
